I was sitting on the floor of slightly ramshackle looking house listening as my translator spoke in my ear. I was in the house of a lady called Nang. She is a perfectly ordinary farm worker struggling to make ends meet except she also has the added problem of living with HIV.

I was in a northern region of Thailand visiting the Sedon Chai community in Amphur Chaing Khlong. I was here with the AIDS Access Foundation, an organization that works in partnership with people living with HIV and AIDS and a partner of ActionAid Thailand.

HIV/AIDS rates have against all odds actually dropped in the last 10 years in Thailand. This is due mainly to a huge promotional push by the Thai government to encourage condom use in brothels and regular STI checks by sex workers. However the estimated figure of people living with HIV or AIDS was 570,000 at the end of 2003 with 58,000 people dying of AIDS in the same year (UNAIDS). The problem has now seemingly moved out of city and is on the rise in rural communities where lack of education and stigma surrounding the disease is playing it part.

The AIDS Access foundation supports communities in rural areas with a focus on education to prevent the spread of HIV and support groups for those that already have the disease.

For Nang, the main problem is being able to afford the drugs that will keep her alive and fit to work so that she can feed and educate her family. She has lived with HIV for nearly 10 years now but 2 years ago she became ill and was at 'deaths doorstep' before she got in touch with her local support group who were able to help her get the drugs she needed to make her well enough to work again.

As Nang was speaking there were tears in her eyes. "Many of my friends and close family wouldn speak to me when they found out I had HIV and I did contemplate suicide. However the thought of my children stopped me." "When I first got in touch with AIDS Access they sent me along to Oon Ai Rak club (Warming Love), a local support group. Here I was able to talk freely about how I felt about the disease with other people who were going through the same thing. Now as well as support we also share tips on how to stay healthy and eat properly without having to spend money."

For Nang, Free Trade is way down her list of priorities but it is these trade agreements that are keeping the drugs she so desperately needs financially out of her reach.

When Nang first had to start taking drugs she used to pay 40bath a day but when she was unable to carry on working she had to move onto more powerful drugs. Unfortunately for her the drugs were still under patent and the cost rose to 300bath per day - a massive struggle for someone like Nang who is earning low wages anyway. The latest drugs to fight HIV are always the most expensive...seemingly ironic when it is often the poorest people who need them the most.

At the moment under WTO law medicines are a basic right and should be affordable to all. Thailand offers a 3 in 1 drug, as recommended by the WHO, to people living with HIV. However for people who have built up a tolerance or need stronger medication the only choice is to pay for much more expensive drugs that are still under patent.

For countries such as Thailand, the ability to produce 'generic' drugs (cheaper versions made in country) is vital to allow people such as Nang to live positively.

Through the work of AIDS Access Foundation, breakthroughs are being made but without a commitment from rich countries and drug companies to really make drugs available for all living with HIV then people will continue to die...not because they have HIV but because, like Nang, they are poor and cannot afford the drugs that will help them live ordinary lives.

By Ed Creed, ActionAid UK

Links: 

AIDS Access Foundation http://www.aidsaccess.com/sub_eng/